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Salem Witch Trials/Transcript
Transcript An animation shows Nat and Moby at the dock of a pond. Moby is tied to a chair hanging from a long wooden beam, a contraption that can dunk the chair into the water. Nat stands behind the contraption, pulling on a rope that holds the chair in the air. NAT: Look, it's pretty simple: If you float, we'll know you're a witch. But if you sink, you're innocent! MOBY: Beep? Moby hands Nat a typed letter. She lets go of the rope to grab the letter and Moby falls in the water with a splash. Nat reads from the letter. NAT: Dear Nat and Moby, Were there really witches in Salem, Massachusetts? Thanks, Ms. Kathleen's class. Well, plenty of people thought there were, back in the late 1600s. It all started when 11-year-old Abigail Williams began having mysterious fits: screaming, twitching, collapsing in a heap on the floor. An animation shows a young girl, Abigail, twitching on the ground and covering her face in distress. She is dressed in typical Puritan clothing: a long dark dress, apron, and bonnet. NAT: The symptoms soon got worse, and spread to her cousin, 9-year-old Betty Parris. A younger girl, Betty, joins Abigail on the ground. They are both twitching. NAT: The girls lived with Betty's father, Reverend Samuel Parris. He brought in a doctor, who said they were "under an evil hand." An animation shows Reverend Samuel Parris talking to the doctor as the girls convulse in the background. NAT: Back then, in Salem, Massachusetts, that was considered a real cause of illness. The colony had been founded by Puritans: a Christian sect who believed God had chosen them to create a pure society. Their way of life was incredibly strict, and all about the Church. On Sundays, you couldn't work, do chores, or hang out with friends. An animation shows a map of the northeast coast of North America. Salem and Boston are labelled. Salem is slightly north of Boston. The animation changes to show 17th-century town on a hill, with a large church in the center of the town. NAT: Even Christmas was banned—the Puritans weren't fans of frivolous holidays. Everyone was committed to creating a community without sin. An animation shows the interior of the church. The pews are filled with Puritans. In the front, a reverend preaches with a very serious expression on his face. NAT: So, if anything bad happened, the Puritans believed they'd been attacked by evil. A.k.a. the devil. A shadowy figure appears behind the reverend. NAT: He would give certain humans magic powers in exchange for their souls. Then those people¬¬—witches—would act against others on the devil's behalf. An animation shows the same shadowy figure standing behind a Puritan woman as she writes in a book. As she finishes writing, the woman screams. Her hair becomes wild and her eyes turn red. MOBY: Beep? Moby stands next to Nat. He is wet from the pond, and he takes a lily pad off his head. The rope falls from his waist. NAT: After the doctor's visit, the girls started pointing fingers at their supposed attackers. All were older women and outsiders: Sarah Osborne was sick and bedridden; Sarah Good was homeless; and Tituba was enslaved by the Parris family. An animation shows each of the accused women. NAT: Gossip in the village said she practiced voodoo and fortune telling. An animation shows a mob of villagers, some with pitchforks, pointing fingers at Tituba. NAT: And so began history's wildest witch hunt, which swept Salem Village like a fever in 1692. In less than a year, hundreds were accused of witchcraft and thrown in jail. An animation shows flashes of people arguing and pointing fingers and others cowering in fear. NAT: Nineteen were convicted as witches and hanged, and one was crushed to death. An animation shows a rope tied into a noose and several large boulders. MOBY: Beep? NAT: Yeah, today it seems almost impossible to believe. But the Puritans felt the threat of evil all around them: They were surrounded by Native people, whom they believed worshipped the devil. An animation shows a two Puritan women praying in a church. They have worried expressions on their faces. Shadowy figures appear outside the window of the church. NAT: They thought Native customs and rituals were witchcraft. An animation shows two Native men carrying a dead deer, tied to a wooden pole. As they walk by the church, the men's shadows move across the windows. NAT: Relations with Native people were strained, and often erupted into violence. Of course, that was mainly because colonists kept snatching up more and more land. MOBY: Beep? NAT: Well, the Puritans might have felt the hand of evil in other ways, too. A recent outbreak of smallpox had killed hundreds of colonists. The British king had tried to take away their religious freedom just a few years before. And towns nearby were becoming less and less religious. So Salem Village doubled down on its faith. An animation shows the Puritan church. The reverend frowns as he speaks from the pulpit. Behind him, images depict men and women with smallpox, King James II of England, and a cross tumbling from the spire of a church. NAT: They hired a strict, conservative minister to run their church. That was Samuel Parris—the same guy whose daughter and niece had been acting so strangely. An animation transitions from Samuel Parris preaching from the pulpit to him looking worried as Abigail and Betty twitch and roll on the floor of his house. MOBY: Beep? NAT: Well, Puritan children weren't allowed to act like kids. They were expected to be quiet and obedient at all times. So, it must've been a thrill for Betty and Abigail to suddenly be the talk of the town. Soon, other girls began suffering the same symptoms. An animation shows villagers gathered inside a courthouse. Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, and Tituba stand at one end of the room while Betty and Abigail twitch on the ground. Three judges look on as two other girls from the crowd drop to the ground and begin crying and pointing at the women. NAT: A hearing was held to examine the three accused witches. Six hundred people, more than the entire population of Salem, showed up to watch. Osborne and Good denied the charges, even as their accusers twitched and screamed at their feet. An animation shows the three accused women standing together in the courtroom. Osborne and Good step forward and shake their heads as they speak. NAT: But Tituba confessed! She said Osborne and Good were witches, too—that they told her to attack the girls. The animation shows Tituba stepping in front of Osborne and Good and pleading to the judges. Behind her, Osborne and Good look shocked. MOBY: Beep? NAT: Well, historians believe Tituba was beaten by Parris, and forced to confess. Admitting to witchcraft would also save her life. Those who confessed were usually allowed to live—so they could identify other witches. An animation shows Tituba thinking as she holds her hand to her chin. Two images appear behind her: a rope noose and a woman pleading on her knees. NAT: That's probably why Tituba kept adding details to her story—to satisfy the judges. She said the devil had come to her and promised her nice things if she signed his book. She also said she'd seen nine other marks in the devil's book. An animation shows Tituba speaking in the court. An image that appears behind her shows Tituba running through the woods. It changes to show Tituba signing a book while a shadowy figure puts his hand on her shoulder. Nine x’s appear next to the book. MOBY: Beep! NAT: Yup, that meant nine more witches were doing the devil's work in Salem. Tituba, Good, and Osborne were thrown in jail to await official trials. An animation shows the three accused women in a jail cell. NAT: Meanwhile, panic and fear spread like wildfire, as more and more people were accused: Within a few months, the girls had named dozens of witches. Almost all the names were older women who didn't fit into Puritan society: They didn't go to church, or they had bad manners or strong opinions. They were unmarried, or widows, or owned property without a man in charge. The animation shows more women filling the jail cell. NAT: A woman named Bridget Bishop checked all the boxes: She'd been married several times, ran a tavern, spoke her mind, and wore a shocking red getup. An animation shows a woman wearing a faded red dress in the jail cell. The animation changes to show the woman carrying drinks in a busy tavern. NAT: The governor set up a special court for the witch trials, and Bishop was up first. The animation shows a man opening the jail door and motioning for Bishop to come with him. She wears iron handcuffs. MOBY: Beep! NAT: In court, the case against her was almost all spectral evidence: These were visions or dreams about the evil deeds of the accused witch. Several girls testified that they'd seen the ghost of Bishop pinching, choking, or biting them. An animation shows Bishop in court. Abigail Williams stands next to her and points her finger at Bishop. An image of appears of Abigail in bed with a demon-like Bishop standing above her. NAT: That was enough to convict her, and Bishop was hanged the next week. That summer, 17 more met the same fate, including Sarah Good. Sarah Osborne and several others died awaiting trial. An animation shows a gavel banging. It changes to show Bishop tied up with a noose around her neck. A crowd of people yell and point angrily. It changes again to show a man placing a noose around Sarah Good's neck. Sarah Osborne is shown collapsed on the floor of the jail cell. NAT: A 4-year-old girl was accused and jailed, but she saved her life by confessing. Eighty-one-year-old Giles Corey, one of the few men accused, refused to participate in the trial. He was tortured: crushed to death by heavy stones over several days. An animation shows Giles Corey underneath a pile of rocks. As a crowd watches, an angry man puts a heavy stone on top of Corey’s face. MOBY: Beep! NAT: Well, when Rebecca Nurse, a religious mother of eight, was accused, a petition went around challenging it. Many even testified in her defense at the trial. The jury found her "not guilty," but reversed their decision under pressure—and Nurse was hanged. An animation shows elderly Rebecca Nurse tied up. A man places a noose around her neck as a crowd of people watch. NAT: Everyone was on edge: If Nurse could be executed, no one was safe. The crowd looks worried. NAT: The tide really started to turn after a minister was hanged. Authorities began to express doubts about spectral evidence. By fall, the community realized they'd gone too far, and changed course. An animation shows a man with a noose around his neck. The crowd disperses. NAT: The court was disbanded, and most prisoners awaiting trial were released. Soon after, the governor pardoned all accused witches and made payments to their families. An animation shows three women leaving the jail. One raises her hands in prayer while another smiles and shades her eyes. NAT: But it was different for Tituba: Parris didn't want her back, so she stayed in jail and was later sold away. MOBY: Beep! NAT: The witch trials caused a crisis in the Puritan community. How could they have lost their way so terribly? A whole town deciding their neighbors were evil, and condemning them to die…based on the stories of a few kids desperate for attention. The Puritan faith didn't last long after that. An animation shows Parris preaching to the Puritan congregation in church. Gradually, the members in the audience fade away until no one is left. MOBY: Beep? NAT: Yeah, you sometimes still hear about so-called witch hunts: campaigns that use fear to target people with unpopular ideas. Like the Red Scare, which swept the nation in the 1950s. An animation shows a magnifying lens scanning a line of white human icons. It stops as it scans a red human icon. NAT: Suddenly everyone was looking for Communist spies, and Congress held hearings to root out those in government. Lives were ruined based on little or no evidence. An animation shows a trial. The man speaking is angrily pointing his finger at the accused person. NAT: Playwright Arthur Miller compared the panic to Salem in his play, The Crucible. It's still popular today, and a reminder of how history can repeat itself. An animation shows Arthur Miller typing on his typewriter. The trial appears on his TV. NAT: Of how easy it is for a society to blame its problems on the vulnerable: outcasts… immigrants… religious or racial minorities… An animation shows Tituba with an angry crowd surrounding her. Many are pointing their fingers at her and one person holds a pitchfork. The image changes to show a woman holding a baby. She stands in front of a barbed wire fence. The angry crowd remains, though the pitchfork changes to a cell phone pointed at the woman. NAT: So, what do you say we— Nat realizes that Moby is no longer standing next to her. She looks at the. the pond, where air bubbles rise to the surface. NAT: Moby? MOBY: Beep! Moby appears behind Nat, wearing a classic witch costume. NAT: Gaaah! Nat jumps and falls in the water. She surfaces and spits out water. NAT: Yep. Category:BrainPOP Transcripts